Customer Reviews

Mozart in Egypt

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

what a wonderfull succes in trying to put these two different worlds together. And I hope more people will work on that. This is one world and Mozart will lead you in another world. Arab and Western. Fantastic. Impossible not to listen once a day.

What a fascinating collection -- Middle Eastern sounds interwoven with familiar Mozart tunes. This "meeting" of East and West results in an exciting auditory adventure. Anyone who has travelled the Arab world will find an instant affinity. The "local" instruments and voices are simply marvellous! Let them carry you away. (I only WISH it was available in the U.S. We've had to order ours from Europe! Get with the program, Amazon.com...!)

I love Arabic music, especially Egyptian. I didn't know what to think of "MiE", and decided I'd reserve judgment until I listened to it. After I was done. I was amazed. I was enthralled by the reverance of culture in most Arab music but also the enthralled by the embracement of the West. This album delivers. I recommend it to anyone, especially those who are studying Eastern music.

Though this concerns the second volume that has just come out, I will extend the review to the first volume without any hesitation.
Mozart is one of the most universal musicians in the world, not the western world, which would be very limited for his genius, but the whole wide world without any limits. Take me to the moon, Mozart, and the sky will be my limit. Here, Mozart's music is systematically entertwined to Egyptian or oriental music. First, of course, the traditional instruments of the Orient, rababa, oud, kawala, kaval, oanoun, arghoul, sensemeya, nay, dof, tabla, rek and sagat. All those challenge the classical instruments we are used to and give them a new depth by contrast. Then the voices are absolutely amazing. They chant and sing in such accents that Mozart's music is regenerated and ressuscitated out of its classic texture and harmony to become as vast as a fathomless sand desert, as deep as a boundless desert night with stars and only stars dancing over our heads. What's more these voices have a texture of their own that we do know indeed. It is the texture of the old medieval gregorian chants that are so well, so perfectly adapted to all Mozart's religious or sacred music. We have to close our eyes and listen to "Al Maghfera", the Qui Tallis of the Mass in C. The beating heart, the banging rhythm, the pulsing percussions sound like the descending of the Nile by some pharoanic fleet, or the crossing of the Atlas mountain range by some elephant battalion on its way to conquer Rome or die. And Rome is conquered by this transmuted music that loses its classic muteness to capture a brand new eloquence and impressionistic power. Ah! The Menuet of the 40th symphony that works on both a ternary and a binary rhythm, one rather slow and mesmerising, the other brisk and exhilaratingly bracing and pressing. Mozart is here revealed as someone who had reinvented, maybe, or simply inherited from some previous life, the basic rhythmic duality and architecture of African music. And the chanting and wailing oriental voices suddenly explode the closed gate of our routinistiquely humdrum ears and precipitate us into the equatorial jungle of unchained violins who finally climb to the tiptop summit that is thousands of miles beyond our accustomed expectations and yet nothing but a step towards the vast cosmos of the music of this universe in which we are wee mites of dust among giant spaces and planets. And the Little Night Music that is not small far from it, resounds in our wide open ears like the universal pulsations of our bodily throbbing essential organs that irrigate our flesh and brain with the vital nutrients that has been beating in our temples from our very foetal birth to our final death. And this ressuscitation of such a music that has been made banal and tasteless by too much use may bring to our minds the idea that this death of ours is nothing but a step on a long road to eternity. Fare thee well.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne

Long time ago I saw an add in the tv about this CD with little bit of few melodies....I loved it! I look for it for long time till now I found it here...no one seems to know about this CD as all my frieds looked at me like crazy when I used to ask for Mozart in Egypt CD....I will get it now to show them that it is real, I am sure they will love it as much as I do...Thanx Amazon, you have it all!

This is a spectacle. Slow motion car crash. It is so awkward that there is actually something compelling about it, I think, if you dig kitsch of the ambitious-but-failed and can-you-believe-they-did-this varieties. I usually don't, in music anyway, so mine is in the sell pile. A more positive way to take it is as audaciously weird and full of personality but still ridiculous. Not for anyone looking for Mozart or for Egyptian music. You will find neither here.

For a middle east ears an Arabic music and Egypt music itself it is more easy to understand the combination with mozat which I think, is more fitted then if it would be with other composer (may be Bethoven could be dramaticly be fitted too) bcause the mono vocal voices, that combined beutifully with the harmony of the western music I'm not shure aboute the combination with the beutifful drum playing . I think that the combinatation in melody # 1 was excellent that imotionally shows the complexcity in Arab music combined into the harmony.

This album shows a brilliant performance. It is wonderful session of perfect Mozart's Music and charming Egyptian Authentic Music. And also with pleasure for all musicians who works for this record

1st I bought part 2 which was realy a good one then i decided to get part 1, in fact I found part 1 not that interesting ...!

I find no words to describe this record: one has just to listen to it and feel the mix of melodies and their harmony. BEAUTIFUL!!!